A variety of rafting thrills in Ruapehu area

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 269, 22 December 1988, Page 3

A variety of rafting thrills in Ruapehu area

If it's action you're after it's hard to beat the white-water excitement offered by

rafting and the Ruapehu Region has a number of suitable rivers.

The Tongariro River is an ideal place to leam to raft. It consists of mostly grade 2 and 3 rapids with the occasional grade 4 for thrills and long slow stretches to cairn the heart after those adrenalin pumping moments. Among the rafting companies who offer trips down the Tongariro are Buttercup, Turangi White Water Rafting, River Rats, Plateau Guides and Ruapehu Outback Adventures. Plateau Guides also offers small boat rafting for the experienced enthusiast on the Whakap apanui. For short trips the Manganui a Te Ao offers rafting excitement within easy reach o f Ohakune and Raetihi. Ruapehu Outback Adventures, Plateau Guides and Rangitikei River Adventures offer trips on the Manganui a Te Ao. The Rangitikei also offers rafting on what

is regarded as one of the most stimulating white water stretches in the country in the Upper Rangitikei Gorge. There are 60 rapids in 12 exhilarating kilometres of the gorge. Grade five rapids have names

such as 'Fulcrum', 'Foaming' and 'Max's Drop'. One operator on the Rangitikei includes a stop at Dive Rock, for obvious reasons. Also offered on the Rangitikei are trips over grade two rapids

for an introduction u, rafting. For the back country fans River Valley rafters offer a helicopter rafting, fishing and hunting trip to the headwaters of the Rangitikei, high in the Kaimanawas.